Breakdown of El chico respondió que se sentía deprimido todos los días.
el chico
the boy
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
el día
the day
todo
all / everything
responder
to respond
sentirse
to feel
deprimido
depressed
Questions & Answers about El chico respondió que se sentía deprimido todos los días.
Why is se sentía in the imperfect tense here?
This highlights the rule for reported speech. Because the reporting verb respondió is in the past, the boy's original present-tense words (Me siento deprimido) must shift back to the imperfect tense (se sentía). The phrase todos los días (every day) also reinforces this, as it describes a continuous, repeated habit in the past.
Why do we need the pronoun se before sentía?
The verb sentirse (to feel) is used reflexively when describing your own emotional or physical state. If you drop the se and just use sentir, it usually means to physically feel an object or to feel an emotion toward something else. Since he feels depressed himself, the reflexive se sentía is required.
In English, we can just say "The boy replied he felt depressed." Can we drop que in Spanish?
No, you cannot drop que in Spanish. While English often leaves out the word "that" in reported speech, Spanish strictly requires que to connect the reporting verb (respondió) to the reported statement (se sentía deprimido).
Would deprimido change if the subject were feminine or plural?
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